Toothed transmission-gearing.



A. A. QUICK. TOOTHED TRANSMISSION GEARING. APPLICATION FILEDMAR-22,1915- RENEWED MAR. 28, 1911.

Patented May 15, 191?.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

A. UICK.

TOOTHED TR SSION GEARING. APPLICATION FILED MAR-22,1915. RENEWED MAR.28. 1911.

ED ARTHUR QUICK, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

TOO'IfiED TRANSEHSSIOH-GEABING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 15, 19M.

Application filed March 22, 1915, Serial Ho. 16,094. Renewed March 28,1917. Serial No. 158,111.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, ALFRED ARTHUR Quick, a subject of His Majesty theKing of Great Britain, and a resident of London, England, have inventeda certain new and useful Improvement in Toothed Transmission-Gearing, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in toothed transmission gearingand while the invention will be described with particular referencetostraight tooth spur gear wheels and worm wheels,.it will be understoodthat the invention is equally applicable to other types of toothedgearing, such provide means whereby the load is at all times distributedevenly over the Whole line of contact of the intermeshing teeth,notwithstanding any unevenness that may exist in such teeth, therebypreventing any overloading at any particular point in the length of thetooth. Means are also provided to permit the teeth to gradually take upthe load without shock, and,- inthe case of sudden overloading,stripping and breakage is prevented by allowing the wheel itself toalter its position on t e shaft against frictional or other resistance.By reason of the adaptability of the wheel it is possible to make sameof greater width than has heretofore been possible.

According to this invention it is proposed to form the toothed wheel,rack or other toothed element, of a plurality of disks or plates havingteeth formed thereon, each of such plates having a rotary andlongitudinal movement in the case of a wheel, or a transverse andlongitudinal movement in the.

case of a rack, against frictional or other resistance to enable them toadapt themselves to the teeth with which they have to mesh.

In constructing toothed elements in accordance with this invention it isproposed to interpose a friction disk or plate between each toothed diskor plate and to provide means for holdin the disks or plates thusarranged in assem led relation and for varying the degree of frictionbetween the several disks or plates as the load increases or decreases.

The longitudinal movement of the disks or plates on the shaft for thepurpose of imparting pressure to the disks of which the wheel iscomposed, and thereby control the rotative movement imparted thereto bythe load which is applied, may be effected in various ways, to providethe necessary amount of friction to carry the load whether constant orvarying, such as for vexample by springs or by means of the torque onthe shaft produced by the resistance due to the load, or by means of aseries of inclined planes and recesses or notches furnished on a part ofthe driving element adapted to co-a-ct with corresponding inclinedplanes and recesses furnished on a sleeve or part slidably mounted onthe shaft, the slidable sleeve being arranged to bear against thecombined dlsks or plates, preferably through the medium of a spring, orthe inclined planes and recesses may be formed on a part of the drivingelement and on the pinion shaft itself.

The several parts of the gearing are so arranged that when the axialmovement is imparted to the disks, whether by springs,

torque or otherwise, the end pressure on the bearings is not increasedbut is decreased by reason ofthe fact that the disks are drawn towardeach other and away from the bearings, and should any sudden shock bethrown on the gear, in constructions where a spring is interposedbetween the driving pinion and the driving shaft, the tendency will befor the spring to produce a cushioning effect lot 'rotatably mounted ina bearing illustrate some examples of this invention:-

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section showing the invention applied to astraight toothed spur gear.

I Figs. 2, 3 and 4, are side views of three parts of the mechanism shownin Fig. 1, shown separately.

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of a modified arrangement of parts, and

Figs. 6 and 7 are longitudinal elevation and side elevation respectivelyof a further modification.

In the example of construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the drivingpinion is composed of a plurality of laminae comprising disks or plates1 furnished 'on their peripheral edges with teeth 2 of the requiredpitch, and friction disks or, plates 3 arranged alternatively with thedisks 1, the combined disks being mounted on a shaft 4 between plates orabutments 5 and 6 for maintaining the disks 1 and 3 in assembledrelation,

-means being provided for imparting a certain amount oflongitudinal-pressure at the ends. 1

The shaft 4 is for a portion of its length formed square, the sharpcorners being removed and the corners'formed as portions of a circle.The disks 1 are provided-with a circular central aperture and are freeto ro-g tate on the circular portions of the shaft 4 whereas for thepurpose of enablin the disks 3 to perform their-function as'frictiondisks they are secured to the shaft so' z zs"to rotate therewith, butnot apart. from same.

To this end they are provided with"a cen-. tral aperture of. the sameshape as the shaft, as shown in Fig. 4. Both disks 1 and ,3. are free tomove longitudinally on the shaft 4.

The plate or abutment 5 screwed .or otherwise fixed on the shaft 4 andthe plate or abutment 6 is slidably mounted on the squared portion andmaintained in contact with the disks or plates in the manner hereafterdescribed. The shaft 4 is provided with an extension 7 formed round incross section, said part being rotatably mounted i in a sleeve 8, whichsleeve is bolted to or.

connected with the driving shaft 9 and is -As will be seen from Fig. 1,the shaft 4 has no axial or endwise movement, but is rotativelyheld inthe sleeve 8 by the nut 11 which draws the shoulder formed by the squarepart 4 against the end of the sleeve 8.

In order that the laminae of which the driving pinion is composed may bepressed against each other as the driving shaft is rotated, the sleeve8' is furnished with what may be termed a clutch element 12, thecoacting part 13, of such clutch'element being slidably mounted on theshaft 4. The clutch element 13 does not bear or act directly on thelaminae but indirectly through the The pressure of the spring 14 may beinmedium of a coiled spring 14 placed between the element 13 and plate6.

The clutch elements 12 and 13 are furnished on their co-acting faceswith projections 15, theprojections on one face engaging with'therecesses on the other face, the radial faces 16 of such projectionsbeing inclinedas shown in Fig. .2 so that they act in either directionof rotation.

In operation, when the driving shaft 9 is set in motion the shaft 4 willnot at first rotate with said shaft due to the slipping connectionbetween the shaft 4 and the sleeve 8 and the'resistance of the drivenwheel 17, due to the load, which tends to cause the toothed disks toremain at rest.

As the torque on the shaft increases, the clutch element 13 will, byreason of the projections thereon sliding up the inclined planes on theclutch element 12, be moved toward the platefi thereby forcing the disks1 and 3 into closercontact, and a inst the plate 5 thereby increasingthefriction between such d'isks-. an d allowing the pinion to graduallypick up the load. As the load andthereby the torque on the shaft'4decreases theclutch elementgl3iwillbe returned-bythe spring 14 into itsnormal position." i

creased by placing a further non-rotatable plate or-plates onthe shaft 4between the last friction disk-'3 and the plate 5 or at the other endbetween the last disk 1 and plate 6.

For the purpose of providing means for readilyadjusting the pressure ofthe spring" 14 the parts maybe arranged as shown in the example ofconstruction illustrated in Fig. 5, in"which1the spring 14 is locatedbetween the iplate 18, and nut 19, and the clutch 'e1ement'13 bears.directly against the last disk at the other endofthe pinion.

In order to prevent the pressure of .the spring forcing theclutchelements 12 and 13 together a collar 20 is formed on;=the. 11o shaft 4,such collar being drawn against the element 13 by the tension of thespring.

It will be evident that the means for effecting a variation in thefrictional pressure between the disks 1 and 3 by means of inclinedplanes may be carried out in other ways than that above described forex:- ample, the inclined planes and recesses may actually take the. formof an ordinary screw thread, or helical groove, as illustrated in theexample of construction shownin Figs.

6 and 7 according to which the end of the sleeve-8 is caused to beardirectly against the end of the laminated pinion. The in terior surfaceof the sleeve 8 is provided masses in Fig. 6, a small space 23 is leftbetween theend of the part 7 and the end of the driving shaft 9 so thatwhen the latter is rotating the resistance due to the load causes anendwise movement of the shaft l. There fore as the sleeve 8 cannot moveaxially in the bearing 10 the plate 5 is drawn toward the part 8 andthereby increases the frictional pressure between theseveral disks ofthe pinion, said pressure increasing .as the torque on the shaft 4, andconsequently as the load, increases.

It will be seen that longitudinal movement of the disks on the shaft 4results in an increase of the friction between such disks, such-frictionnot however being great enough to-prevent each toothed diskautomatically accommodating itself toan'y unevenness of the with whichit is in mesh. By this means each toothed disk which coin-prises asection of the length of the whole pinion, is adapted to carry theproper proportion 'of the load. It therefore follows that the-"{entireseries of toothed v.. ,clisksnn'ustbe in contact with the teeth ontheilrivenfwheel, the teeth always assuming aposition to' Ineettheinaccuracies as they developifthe reby retaining the efliciency of thewhole gearing. Should any over-loading be imposed on any section, or onthe entire length-of the pinion, the toothed disks are enabled tomovearound the shaft 4 thereby preventing stripping or breakage of theteeth.

It will be evident that in straight tooth gears the simple pressure onthe teeth due to the load will only tend to impart a rotary motion tothe toothed disks; that is, there will not be any tendency for the disksto move axially and produce end pressure without some extraneous meanssuch as those before described for applying same.

The cutting of the teeth of the laminated wheel may be effected in oneway by rigidly securing together a number of disks adapted to form bothtoothed and friction disks, all being in the first case of the samediameter, the teeth would then be cut on the periphery in the ordinarymanner, such as by hobbing cutters. When finished the disks would beseparated and the second and every other disk be removed and eitherreplaced by further friction disks or the teeth on the disks removedcould be cut 0d so that such disks could be used as the friction disks.

The teeth of each disk, whether for use with straight or angularlyarranged teeth, may be rounded at their edges to prevent wear upon theotherwise sharp angles which would be left, and also to prevent theedges of the tooth from becoming flattened by the continuous rollingaction of the co-ac'ting wheel.

named series, a carrying member for both series of disks, the tootheddisks belng mounted on said carrying member so as nor-' mally to rotatetherewith but so as to be capable, under certain conditions, of an axialmovement on said carrying member and of a rotary movementin a reversedirection to the rotary movement of the carrying member, the'frictiondisks being mounted so as to rotate with said carrying member but so asto be capable, under certain conditions, of an axial movement on saidcarrying member, means for drawing the two series of disks togetherthereby setting up frictional resistance between such disks, and meansfor increasing such resistance as the load increases whereby the disksare caused to rotate with the carrying member as the load increases.

2. A toothed gear element for use in toothed gearing, composed of aseries of toothed disks, a series of friction disks alternately arrangedwith the disks of the first named series, a carrying member for bothseries of disks, the toothed disks being mounted on said carrying memberso as normally to rotate therewith but so as to be capable, undercertain conditions, of an axial movement thereon and of a rotarymovement in a reverse direction to the rotary movement of the carryingmember, the friction disks being mounted so as to'rotate with saidcarrying member but so as to be capable as the load increases of anaxial movement thereon, means for holding the two series of disks inassembled relation, means co-acting with the last named means fordrawingthe two series of disks together thereby setting up frictionalresistance between such disks whereby they are normally caused to rotatewith the carrying member, and means for varying the degree of frictionbetween said disks.

3. A toothed gear element for use in toothed gearing composed of aseries of toothed disks, a carrying member for said disks, the disksbeing mounted on said carrying member so as normally to rotate therewithbut so as to be capable, under certain conditions, of an axial movementthereon and of a rotary movement in a reverse direction to the rotarymovement of the carrying member, a series of friction disks alternatelyarranged with the disks of the first named series, said friction disksbeing mounted so as to rotate with said carrying ,member but so as to becapable, under cerdisks in assembled relation comprising a 1319 mentcomposed of a plurality of disks, a carrying member upon which suchdisks are frictionally mounted, said. disks being mounted on thecarrying member so as normally to rotate therewith but so as to be freeto adjust themselves to any inaccuracies in the teeth of a co-actingtoothed element so that the load is distributed along the entire lengthof the intermeshing teeth, and means for increasing the resistance asthe load in-- creases comprising clutch elements located between thedriving element and the disks such elements having inclined co-actingfaces whereby the torque on the shaft effects a separation of suchclutch elements and a consequent increase of friction between the disks.

5. In toothed gearing, a toothed element composed of a series of toothedlaminae and a series of co-acting friction laminae, a shaft upon whichsuch laminae are mounted, the laminae of the first named series beingmounted so as to be free to rotate in either direction on said shaft andto slide axially thereon, the laminae of the second named series beingmounted so as to have no independent rotary movement apart from saidshaft but being free to slide axially thereon, means on said shaft forholding the two se' ries of laminae in assembled relation, means forsetting up frictional resistance between such laminae and meansforincreasing such resistance as the load increases,

6. In toothed gearing, a toothed element composed of a series of tootheddisks, a series of friction disks alternately arranged with the disks ofthe first named series, a shaft upon which said disks are mounted, thedisks of the first named series being mounted so as to be free to rotatein either direction on said shaft and to slide axially masses thereonthe disks of the second named series being mounted so as to have noindependent rotary movement apart from said shaft but are free to slideaxially thereon, a spring locatedbetween said shaft and disks wherebythe disks are normally held together by a yielding pressure, and meanslocated between the shaft and the disks for increasing the frictionalpressure as the load and thereby the torque on the shaft, increases.

7. In toothed gearing, a toothed gear'element composed of a plurality ofdisks, a carrying member upon which such disks are frictionally mounted,said disks being mounted on the carrying member so as normally to rotatetherewith but so as to be free to adjust themselves to any inaccuraciesin the teeth of a co-acting toothed element so that the load is at alltimes evenly distributed along the entire length of the intermeshingteeth, means for maintaining the disks in assembled relation with adegree of friction, and means for causing the disks to move axially asthe load increases whereby the friction between said disks is increased.

8. In toothed gearing a toothed gear element composed of a plurality ofdisks, a carrying member upon which such disks are frictionally mounted,bearings for supporting said carrying member, said disks being mountedon the carrying member so as normally to rotate therewith but so as tobe free to adjust themselves to the load and to any inaccuracies in theteeth of a co-acting toothed element so that the load is distributedalong the entire length of the inter- ALFRED ARTHUR QUICK.

Witnesses ALLEN PARRY J oNEs, A. KNIGHT CRoAD.

